At Our End
by jess4795
Summary: Follows the lives of team 7 as they struggle to get stronger for the final battle with Madara. NaruHina, SasuSaku
1. Chapter 1

_Hello everyone! This is my first fic. I hope that you like it. Right now it is Sakura centric but I plan on following all of team 7. Please review and let me know what you think :) Oh yea I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form._

_ **The Road of Fate**_

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How long had it been? Days? Weeks? She had lost track. All that she has known or seen lately is that hideous green wall. Sakura had tried everything she could think of to break free of her bonds. But, here she was still tied up to this board like she was going to be filleted. How had she gotten here? The last thing that she remembered was leaving Konoha on a solo A rank mission. Her job was to gain intelligence on a rogue nin that had been seen skipping the boarder into fire. Sakura was to locate the nin, and simply take notes without being detected. She had did just that, but on her return trip back to Konoha she found herself waking up to this green wall.

There was something wrong with her chakra. Sakura could not detect the flow of it inside her. She had spent many frustrating hours trying to make it flare up, even just a little bit, but her attempts only left her exhausted. The mantra 'stay calm' kept playing over and over in her head. If her chakra was not going to help her get out of this situation, then her intelligence was going to have to.

That's when it started again. There was a searing pain that shot through her lower abdomen. Sakura looked down to find that yet again there was a senbon slowly making its way through her. This was becoming a common occurrence. She never has seen her attacker. Only a faint glow of their chakra was any indication that they were there behind her. A long hiss was ushered from her lips when another senbon was pushed into her. 'Stay calm' shot through her head. These torture sessions never changed. Thirty senbon would make their way through her without even a sound ushered from the torturer. After the last senbon was placed in her they would be agonizingly be pulled out. Sakura would be left there slowly bleeding to death. Blood pooled at her feet.

"Is this time, the last?" she thought to herself. Darkness began to creep into the edge of her vision. The first few times that she started to die she could only think of what she hadn't done in life. Right now the only thing that passed through her mind was her failure to become a member of ANBU. What was it? That's right, ineptitude to stand alone. So, in other words, they thought that she was weak. The darkness had crept in making her vision no more than a pin point. She knew that it would be soon before she was dead to the world. A small cackle escaped her lips.

* * *

Once again green. Nothing but green. Sakura was really starting to hate that color. How many times had they killed her and brought her back? She must be apart of some bullshit experiment on human resurrection. She chided herself "Think Sakura, think. This whole situation can't be random." What bothered Sakura the most was that she had no clue what her attacker wanted from her. They obviously didn't want her dead. Well not completely. Was it information? If it were, wouldn't they be asking her questions while they were sticking her with those senbons? The missing nin is a possibility, but something just doesn't seem right about it. Wouldn't he just kill her if he had caught her? Sakura let out an exacerbated grunt. This whole situation seemed like a huge puzzle, if only she could figure it out.

Again! "Already back with those senbons I see" Sakura spat. No reply. "What is it that you want?" Still no response. If only she could move, use her chakra or do something. The only weapon she had was her mouth, which seemed completely ineffectual. There had to be something with those senbons. Why always thirty? Sakura's body began to shake as a senbon slowly passed through her rib cage. A low ragged moan escaped her.

Poison, there had to be poison on those senbon. A type that sealed off her chakra flow but didn't affect her mind or the rest of her body. Could there be a way to counteract it? It seems like every time she wakes from death they are at it again. Maybe the poison stays in her system for only a short period.

That's it! All she needed to do was feign 'sleep' as long as she could. Hopefully given enough time she can regain access to her chakra. All Sakura could do was wait out the pain and welcome the black.

* * *

She awoke. She didn't know how long after the most recent black out. Only this time she remained as if she really was still out. She could feel nothing of her chakra, but she expected that. The question is would she after enough time? If this didn't work Sakura had no idea what would.

What seemed like hours passed when she noted the chakra presence of her most hated torturer. Sakura attempted to keep her heart beat at a steady level, hoping to convince them of her supposed sleepy state. Minutes passed and still nothing happened. Sakura tried delving deep within her to find any trace of her own chakra. Nothing, she could find nothing. "Shit!" she screamed inside her head "There has to be a way." She could sense that her torturer knew she was awake. Any second now there would be pain shooting through her body somewhere. She tried again to search for her chakra. Only this time she found a small glimmer. Sakura latched on to it, prodded and pulled at her chakra to move through out her system.

A loud cackle roared out of her mouth. "Lets see if I can make you talk" a rueful smile plastered across her face. With one smooth motion Sakura broke her chain bindings on her hands and feet. She vaulted off the green wall into the air. Gracefully landed in front of her torturer as he hid something behind his back. Most certainly it had to be the poisoned senbons. She would have to be careful to not get hit by one of those. A short staring contest ensued. Sakura noted that he had an ANBU mask on. His posture showed her that although he was surprised at her escape, he did not view her as a threat.

"Who the hell are you?" she screamed. He merely cocked his head slightly before sending a senbon her way. She fell to a crouch to dodge the senbon, only to launch into a full run at her mysterious torturer. He just stood in one spot throwing senbon after senbon. She moved right and left to avoid being hit. "That's been twenty three, you only have seven more. Do you think that you can hit me before I reach you?" He chuckled. There was something familiar to Sakura about that chuckle. Lacing chakra into her right arm Sakura used her strength to pelt a hole into the ground. She grabbed a hold of the side of the hole to wrench up a man sized chunk of the floor. She threw the concrete out in front of her. She succeeded in blocking three more of the senbon while jumping out of the way of a fourth.

The concrete slab crashed into the wall where the man had stood. He of course poofed out of existence. He only has three more, but where is he hiding? Sakura at this time took in her surroundings while scanning for his chakra. There was no obvious door or windows. That really didn't matter, she could always make some. No real place to hide except behind the board she had been tied to. Her best strategy right now is wait until he makes a move. Sakura crouched down concentrating on any movement. There! She flipped into the air, landed and sent another concrete slab his way. Alright he has only..."Oh shit!". Sakura dove across the floor to avoid being hit. "Ha you are down to one. What shall you do now?" She had a smile on her face but on the inside she was in turmoil. What is she going to do? She can't play cat and mouse forever.

She crouched down again and let her hand hit the floor. It was then that she came up with the perfect plan. "Are you so afraid of me that you can't even show yourself?" She chided. A small chuckle emanated in front of her. There he was standing, one hand behind his back and a senbon in the other. His hidden hand still made her nervous but he may just be hiding it to confuse her. Sizing him up Sakura decided to make her move. Her left hand dipped into the ground throwing a concrete slab, as he threw his last senbon at her. With her right hand she grabbed the senbon that she had found and lobbed it at his dodging form. She watched as the senbon was headed right at the target's jugular.

Poof. "What! H..How?" There guarding her tormenter was another man. He was clad in black ninja pants and a green jounin vest. In his hand was none other than the senbon that she threw and a bright orange copy of _Icha Icha Paradise. _"Kakashi!" Sakura exclaimed.


	2. Chapter 2

Two months. She has been gone for two months. Something had to have happened to her. Naruto bashed his fist into the nearest tree. Her mission was supposed to last only two weeks tops. "Maybe I should go talk to Tsunade again." He shook his head. "No, that won't work" he spat out loud.

Tsunade refuses him every time he asks to go look for her. Naruto wiped the sweat that had trailed its way into his eye. A large splintering sound radiated through the training grounds. Naruto glanced at the offending tree before he turned his back and headed towards Konoha.

He had to try again. Tsunade would have to cave in eventually. As Naruto walked closer to town his already depressed state slowly got worse. His eyes roamed over what used to be Konoha. Sure he had saved everyone in it, but it still felt to him that he had lost so much. Naruto shivered at the thought of him almost contributing to the destruction. The Kyuubi's power had helped him against Pein, but at a huge cost. There is no way that he can rely on the nine tails power anymore. Naruto had to keep control over the Kyuubi. He couldn't hurt anyone ever again because he lost control of that fox.

A sigh escaped his lips. First step is to get stronger. Naruto chuckled "That's always the first step. It's funny though, my motivation behind it has changed a bit" Naruto shook his head, "It's no longer to bring him back anymore" Looking out over the large rubble crater with tents scattered about, and the whole village at work rebuilding, Naruto stated to himself "It's to protect everyone. And, to save you from yourself, Sasuke." A hawk hovered above peering down at Naruto. He glanced up and let out another sigh before he sped off towards the hokage.

…...

"Kakashi?" What is he doing here? Why did he just stop that senbon? Sakura tried to calm her heart. Think Sakura, think. It has to be genjutsu. "Kai." Slowly the image of Kakashi faded. Her attacker let out a low chuckle. Before she could spit out a snide remark he lunged for her. She watched as he closed the gap between them. Five feet, two, one... Sakura jumped high over her his head, landed behind him, laced her fist with chakra and punched. The force of her impact sent the man flying through the detested green wall, through two more and out into the shinning sun. Sakura smirked "How convenient."

Moving cautiously towards her new found exit, Sakura checked for any hint of others around her. Nothing so far. She reached the unconscious man "Who are you?." In one quick motion the mask was removed. A wrinkle formed in between her two pink eye brows. He had no face. "What?" Well he wasn't the missing nin she had been sent to observe. Sakura bent down and checked for a pulse, it was there but faint. She was faced with a new dilemma. Should she stay and wait for the said unconscious man to awake, or make her escape now? After pondering for a few minutes Sakura decided to look around her prison for any clues and supplies.

Chakra emanated from her hand as Sakura released a sleeping jutsu into her attacker. Hopefully he would not wake for at least a few hours. She then searched his entire person for any clues as to who he was. There was nothing on him beside some basic shinobi weapons and a vial of liquid. Sakura pocketed all this and hoped secretly that the liquid was the poison that had been used on her. She then moved back into the building. She let out a cautious sigh and new that this was not the best of ideas. Her entire being was telling her to flee from this area. Sakura constantly checked for any signs of a chakra presence near by. She found none, so far.

Besides her prison there were three other rooms that she could access. Two of which appeared to be more holding cells and one that was a small living quarters. In there she found some scrolls that seemed to be written in a code that made no sense, her travel pack, and a whole vial of soldier pills. "Well as stupid as that was, at least I might have gotten some information about who he was." Sakura bent down one more time next to her attacker to check his pulse. It was still there and his face was still not. She contemplated one more time to wait and ask him what they hell he wanted with her, but decided it was better to head towards Konoha.

She looked up at the sky to check the position of the sun. If only it were night out then she could get a better reading from the stars as to where to go. But, for now she would head southwest towards where she thought Konoha was.

A few hours later a faceless man awoke. "So I see she got away. She may have more potential than we originally thought" A smile graced his forming face. "I wonder if she will make it back?" A small chuckle escaped his lips.

…...

"Baa-chan!"

A small vein popped on Tsunade's forehead. One of these days she's going to have to beat that stupid nick name out of him. A smile graced her pink lips "Maybe today will be his lucky day." Tsunade turned around to face Naruto. Her smile faltered a little as she looked at Naruto's eyes. Behind his smiling face she could tell that he wasn't as happy as he appeared to be. It had been just over three month's since Sakura had gone off on her own to kill Sasuke. Naruto since then has been different. Still his playful self, but more serious. She let out a small sigh. He is facing some very difficult decisions. It scared her how much team seven reminded her of her own team. How had fate caused so much similarities between us?

"Baa-chan are you in there?" Naruto snickered.

Yet another small vein burst in her forehead. "NARUTO!" Tsunade punched the ground extending a crack that engulfed Naruto up to his shoulders, leaving only one of his hands free.

"Gah!" Naruto looked at Tsunade with blue saucers "uh s..sorry Baa-chan" One glance at the hokage and he knew that he had made another fatal error. "Uh...uh"

"Out with it baka!" On the outside Tsunade was a raving maniac, but on the inside she was laughing hysterically. She glared at his scared face before asking again, "well?"

"I want to go look for her" he stated flatly

"No"

"Aren't you worried at all about her?"

Tsunade rolled her eyes "Of course I am" She raised a finger to stop his next comment, "But I can't let you go out there looking for her at a time like this. I already told you that I have an ANBU squad out looking for her." Tsunade bent down next to Naruto. She had a hard time not smiling at his current state. "Naruto, you know that I care for her well being just as much as you do, but there is a war about to start. One of the major players in that war is you." Naruto made a face at this comment. "We can't let Madara get a hold of you or all is lost."She looked down at him with a smile on her face. "Beside Sakura is strong, I believe that she can take care of herself"

"She didn't do to well against Sasuke" Naruto bit out "She would have gotten killed by him if Kakashi and I hadn't showed up."

"True. But I don't think that she was truly ready to kill him. She is strong when her emotions don't get in the way. She did help kill Sasori, and besides she was trained by some of the best here in Konoha. Don't doubt her Naruto" Tsunade stated. "Now get out of here and do something useful for the village"

"But Baa-chan how am I supposed to get out of the ground?" Tsunade stood and plastered a large grin on her face. With one swift flick of her toe she sent Naruto flying out of the ground and twenty feet from her tent. "Ow sheesh, Baa-chan!"

"I heard that" Tsunade yelled.

"Gah" Naruto quickly ran away. A few hundred feet away from the tent Naruto began to wonder what should he do for the rest of the day. Maybe he should just go train more, or sneak off and find Sakura on his own. After rubbing his sore bottom he thought better than that. How is it that he can face someone like Pein and take all that damage and not flinch? But the mere thought of a punch or kick from Tsunade or Sakura scares him? Naruto let a loud chuckle leave his lips, "Haha, women."

"Hello Naruto-kun."

Naruto was met by a shy smile from Hinata. He smiled in return as he saw her. "How have you been?" He replied.

"Good Naruto-kun. How about you?" Hinata didn't know why she had stopped him with her hello. But, she has found it a tad bit easier to initiate conversation with him now that, well , he knows how she feels.

"Well not so good since Ichiraku hasn't been open" He smiled at her, but added in his head that he also was not so good since Sakura has gone missing. He didn't want to worry her too much. Ever since Hinata told him how she felt he had taken to notice her more. He understood now why she always passed out on him and why she did that weird finger thing she does. Naruto wasn't sure how he felt about Hinata. He had always liked her as a person, as a friend. But as something more? Well he never really had thought about it. He had always loved Sakura, scratch that still loves her. But she loves Sasuke still. Maybe he should try and get to know Hinata more. But he doesn't want to lead her on. Gah! Women.

"Naruto-kun are you alright?" Hinata shyly stammered.

"Oh haha. Sorry Hinata-chan I was just daydreaming about delectable ramen" This elicited a small laugh from Hinata. Which in turn made Naruto smile. He was about to say something more to make her smile when he noticed a figure stumbling through the woods towards them. They had pink hair. "Sakura-chan?" he whispered. This made Hinata turn around to look where Naruto was. She then started to run toward that figure and after Naruto.

…...

"Just a bit further" is all she could think. Two weeks of constant movement. Two weeks of someone close to her tail. She could tell that it was him, her torturer. She didn't know how many times she thought that she had lost him, only to find his chakra signature following her again. She opted to not stop moving. Laying traps when ever she could and running as fast as she could towards Konoha. When she finally caught site of her ruined home she felt so much relief that it spurred her on even faster. She was exhausted. So much so that when she saw Naruto running towards her, all that she could do was fall to the ground and welcome the black.


	3. Chapter 3

"Yo, Long time no see" Sakura's eyes fluttered open. Her mind tried to catch up with her surroundings. She was staring at something white. She tried shaking her head. It's a tent. She was in a tent on a bed. "Your still a bit disoriented?" Sakura looked over to her left and found a smiling Kakashi there. That's when she noticed the buzzing noise.

"What is that noise" she rasped out. Kakashi still smiled at her as he raised a tattoo gun. Still not comprehending what was going on she asked "Why do you have that?" Kakashi reached up and scratched the back of his head. Then he pointed at her arm with his other hand.

"You should look at your arm"

Sakura moved her head so as to see her arm clearly. "What? Why is that there?" burst from her mouth.

"Haha congratulations!" Kakashi looked at her with a wide smile behind his mask and great pride in his uncovered eye. On her arm was an outline of the ANBU symbol. Kakashi started to laugh a little at her facial reaction. She had been through a lot. Four weeks of straight torture and then two on the run. She handled it so well that it actually surprised Kakashi. She has improved a lot.

"But I failed the test!" She exclaimed

"Actually Sakura" She shifted her eyes to his face. "You passed the first test and your second one as well" Sakura's eyebrows scrunched up in thought. "The first test is a test of abilities. It's to show the test givers what you are capable of. The second test is a test of willpower." Kakashi placed his hand on her arm and began to work on her tattoo again. "You were given a high ranking mission to see if you can go places undetected. The ANBU assigned as your 'missing nin' never noticed your presence. There is a high chance of being caught as an ANBU operative. So we captured and tortured you. You still kept a level head and when the ANBU assigned to that slipped up, you took your shot and escaped. Which by the way wasn't apart of our plan." He gave her another smile. "And before you even left the area you found information on your captor. So here you are a proud new member of Konoha's ANBU"

"Telling me that I failed the first one, was so that I would never suspect being caught was just another test" Sakura sank back in the bed. "You guys are bastards" With this statement Kakashi stopped

tattooing and looked at Sakura's face. She had a smile there, but tears where falling from her eyes.

Kakashi tentatively reached up and turned her head towards him.

"You know all ANBU go through the same sort of test. Even I had to." Sakura's eyes lit up after this statement.

"What happened during your test?" Sakura looked expectantly at Kakashi. All she got from him was the return of the slight tattoo pain and a weird humming noise. "Your impossible you know. I guess I should have known you wouldn't say anything. After all, you did tell us when team seven got together that you had no desire to tell us... well basically anything" With this she sighed and looked over at Kakashi. "Gah!. Would you put that away and pay attention to what your doing!" She swatted the orange book from his hand. "I can't believe that you would be reading while inking something permanent onto someone" she mumbled.

…...

He awoke feeling exhausted. Sitting up in his bed he began to unravel the bandages around his eyes. When the last bandage fell, his eyes crept open. Two onyx orbs appeared behind his lids. Sasuke peered around the room noticing that his vision was getting sharper each second. It was marvelous, he had not seen this clearly in weeks. There was something more, he could feel it emanating from his new eyes. Itachi's eyes. What is this power? A smirk appeared on his lips. Konoha had no chance now.

"I see that you are healing nicely after your fight with Danzo." Sasuke looked at Madara from the corner of his eye. "You have two weeks until our plan goes into effect." Madara looked Sasuke up and down. "You better use the time wisely"

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A/N: This chapter is a bit shorter than the first two, but it was originally attached to ch. 2. Which was monstrously long. Thanks to everyone who has read this story. So how am I doing? I would really love to know if this story is alright. Please review :)

Oh and **AkisWonderland**: Muhahaha and thanks for the review :)


	4. Chapter 4

Sakura sat there curious about what had happened to her over the past three months. She'd gone from a small time chunnin, to a small time member of ANBU. She still didn't understand how or why it had happened so fast. One day she got the notion to move forward, make it to jonin. But, Tsunade had pushed her further and would not take no for an answer. All that she ever told Sakura was that she had her 'reasons' and that they were at war. She was not the only one that was getting the fast track to the top.

The demolition of Konoha meant rebuilding it. Sakura could see that Tsunade didn't plan on just rebuilding the physical structures of her village, but also the way that shinobi functioned in the village. Everywhere you looked there were genin being trained in broader areas than just teamwork. Tactics, taijutsu, genjutsu, and even fuinjutsu. Konoha was up against an enemy that knew the village fighting styles, and Tsunade was going to change that. Surprise after all is an effective tool in war. That's why Sakura was sitting here in a makeshift hospital tent healing from her ANBU trials. All the world ever new about her was her extreme infatuation with one Uchiha Sasuke, her mean right hook and the florid color of her hair. What would they do if she could do more? `

"What are you thinking about?" Sakura turned her head and found that Kakashi had not left her yet. Funny how she had been so lost in thought that she had forgotten that she had received a tattoo from the copy-nin.

"I always thought that the ANBU symbol was a seal of some kind."

A small "hmm" vibrated from Kakashi's lips. "Any seal has a small trace of chakra left in it. A tattoo has none but can perform the same functions." Before Sakura could ask what other functions a tattoo can do besides just being decorative, a slim hand moved the flap to the tent back that was soon followed by Tsunade.

Tsunade tilted her head in acknowledgment towards both present shinobi but gave her smile fully towards Sakura. The young kunoichi smiled back with just as much brilliance. "Congratulations"

"Thank you shisou-sama."

"I am very proud of you, but you still have a long way to go before I am done with you." A small frown marred the pinkette's features. "You may have achieved ANBU, but you are still far down in the ranks of that organization and any others in it could tear you up as easily as a piece of paper."

"Gee thanks, Hokage-sama" A very large pout etched its way on Sakura's face.

"But don't worry, that's why I'm here. I'm going to train you." Kakashi gave her a thumbs up.

"No offense Kakashi-sensei, but the last time that you were in charge of my training you taught me how to climb a tree without my hands, and when I mastered that easily, you walked away. I had to run to the hokage to learn anything new."

A sad smile graced his face, immediately followed by a sheepish scratch of the head, and a nervous laugh. "Well look how well that turned out. Besides I will more than make up to you for that. You may even hate me for it." A true mischievous smile walked across his face. At the same time a silent and foreboding echo ran through Sakura's head, '_Oh, shit.'_

"Well since you've met your new ANBU sensei." At the word 'new' Sakura jerked her head towards Tsunade and gave her the meanest glare. Tsunade merely laughed back at her. "Children these days. As I was saying I'll be off. Hokage business and all. Oh Sakura, stop by my tent when he's done with you." With that she turned and left.

"New sensei, bah. Actually both my sensei's are old farts, who actively participate in bastardly deeds that make my days longer." As the words left her mouth Sakura could feel the full brunt of Tsunade's killing intent. "Uh, haha, you heard that?" Squeaked out of her mouth. A not so subtle crack in the ground sped into her tent engulfing her small hospital bed. Luckily, Sakura moved to dodge away from it in time.

"Lesson number one, you should never anger a woman. It is much less dangerous that way." Sakura just glared at Kakashi.

"Thanks sensei. Is that your solution to the mysteries of women."

"I beg to differ, women are not mysterious. They merely follow a pattern much like men do."

"Oh really now, oh wise sensei? Please enlighten me"

Kakashi gave a her a small chuckle, ruffled her hair, "Maybe when you are older." At this Kakashi stood then made his way to the tent opening. "Are you coming or not?"

"What do you mean?"

"Training starts now."

"But I just got back an hour ago. I'm not at full chakra levels yet, nor am I healed all the way." Sakura's mouth shut when she saw the look Kakashi was giving her. A sigh left her lips. She was an ANBU now. It was expected to be at her best even when she didn't know if she could. After seeing her resolve reform, Kakashi had informed her to meet him at what was left of the east training grounds, in five minutes. Which in Kakashi time, meant in an hour. At least he gave her that. Sakura left the tent and headed out to the supply area.

On her way there she ran into Hinata. Sakura gave her a hearty smile.

"Sakura-san"

"You don't have to call me so formally. Just Sakura." At Hinata's shy smile she decided to add. "I know we don't know each other all that well, but I would like to become friends with you."

Hinata was a bit taken aback but agreed nevertheless. Hinata had always been a bit standoff-ish from Sakura because of her exuberant personality. Not to mention Naruto's affection toward the girl had Hinata a bit apprehensive and jealous. Due to the nature of her own personality, Hinata was able to observe Sakura and see that it was not Naruto that she loved. For that she was grateful. "Sakura, Naruto has been very worried for you."

A rosy laugh followed by a silent chiding comment came from the pinkette. "I suppose he would be. He's always looking out for me." Sakura peered around looking for a glint of yellow sunshine hair. "Hinata do you happen to know where Naruto is?"

"Last I saw of him he was over at the supply tent. He said something about needing a new set of kunai."

"Oh perfect. I was just headed there." At this Sakura grabbed a hold of Hinata and dragged her towards the tent. Not once did Sakura ask if Hinata wanted to go there, but Hinata didn't mind at all. When the two girls finally reached the tent Sakura had all but chatted off the ear of the shy hyuga. Hinata had learned more about Sakura in ten minutes than she had in the last year. Although a bit overwhelmed Hinata was grateful towards Sakura. "There you are!"

At this a tall blonde turned to greet who he thought was just Sakura, but found not just one woman but two. The loud 'Sakura-chan' that was about to come out of his mouth was instead replaced with some sort of spluttering noise and a full face blush. Trying to recover some dignity from the mirthful laughs of both women, Naruto tried again. "Sakura-chan you just got back. What are you doing?" Naruto quickly batted the shuriken out of Sakura's hand. Green eyes glared at blue. "You've been gone for two months. You should rest. Don't give me that look, you would tell me the same thing."

"Naruto, we're at war. None of us can really rest."

"But you still have bandages on" He proceeded to point where her ANBU tattoo was hidden beneath cottony bandages.

"Oh don't worry. It's just a scratch. I'll heal it in a bit." Sakura knew she was lying but she was forbidden from telling him. There were rules that she was given before she even took her first ANBU test. One of them was that if she ever made it in she could tell no one that she was an operative. The only people who ever knew you were in ANBU were the hokage, your trainer, and hopefully no one else. Once you got out of ANBU then you were free to tell. It was a method to control information leaks to enemies. If caught she could honestly say that she didn't know who was in ANBU. In an attempt to change the subject Sakura brought up getting some food.

"Sure Sakura-chan! Let's go to the mess tent." Naruto quickly turned to his side and smiled at Hinata. "You'll come along too?"

A small blush formed on pale cheeks. "Of course Naruto-kun."

"Great let's go." Cried Naruto, while pulling a stumbling Hinata behind him.

"Oh, I forgot I'm supposed to meet up with Kakashi-sensei. I'll catch up to in a bit." At this Naruto stopped and ran back to Sakura.

"But Sakura-chan you said you were hungry." Pouted Naruto.

A sly smile slid across Sakura's lips. "But Naruto now _you_ get to eat alone with Hinata." Sky blue eyes looked at her in amazement. "You shouldn't make her wait to long. Do me a favor, when you walk with her to the mess tent watch the men that you guys walk by. Pay close attention to what they are looking at."

"What do you mean Sakura-chan?" A confused knit formed between his brows.

Sakura gave a playful flick to his forehead before turning to leave. A few steps away she turned her head at stated, "See you later Hinata-chan. Remember Naruto, just watch." Sakura received a shy wave from Hinata and a stuck out tongue from Naruto. She gave a laugh at his antics. It was cute watching him stumble around. Sakura was just glad to see that he in the future could be happy with someone. Gods know that she could never truly give him what he needs. And Hinata definitely was madly in love with Uzamaki Naruto.

On the walk towards the mess tent Naruto kept a stealthy eye out for what these other men were up to. What would they look at and would all of them look at the same thing? Why would they? The first guy they came across didn't seem unusual. He greeted Naruto and then smiled at Hinata. The second basically did the same thing, but Naruto noticed that the second guy's eyes looked much longer at Hinata. It was almost as if Naruto was an after thought. The closer they got to the tent the more Naruto watched Hinata get ogled, the more Naruto felt like he needed to step in front of her and do some manly protecting. The feeling met its peek when they reached the mess tent and extreme paranoia had set in. Any man, no matter even if he hadn't looked their way, was suspect.

"Naruto-kun are you ok." A timid hand reached out to grasp his shoulder.

This snapped Naruto out of his pumped up glarefest with all male kind. "Yea I'm fine. Do you wanna grab the food to go, and then head out to the lake?"

A bright blush fell across her cheeks, "Su..sure." Was all that she could manage. Inside Hinata was all gooey and giddiness.

...

Sakura made it to the east training grounds with a half hour to spare. She sat down in the middle of a grassy field. The sun was warm on her skin and a sense of freedom had settled on her shoulders. She thought about how Kakashi-sensei had half mentioned that she wasn't supposed to escape from that blasted green painted room. Did that mean that they had wanted to torture her more? The thought of it made her cringe. All those_ senbon_. So many times she felt like she had died. A groan left her lips as she moved to lay on her back. She was still sore.

A soft green haze engulfed her stomach. Soothing chakra healed what was left of her injuries. A quick scan of her shoulder cooled the pain left over from Kakashi-sensei's needle work. Remembering her thought on the tattoo being like a seal brought up questions that she should ask. A half an hour went by and to her surprise Kakashi-sensei showed up on time.

"Haruno Sakura. Apprentice to the current hokage and as far as everyone knows, a complete replica of her. She can punch through walls, heal any injury and has the meanest temper around." Kakashi gave her a smile. "Too predictable also, easily handled if you attack mid to long-range, and specializes in no elemental jutsus. Am I wrong?"

A large huff escaped her mouth. "I have worked on other things besides just my awesome strength and superb healing abilities Kakashi-sensei." Emerald eyes glared daggers at him.

Kakashi merely chuckled at her. "I see that you are feeling better. Good. Take this and channel chakra into it."

"I see you are finally testing my elemental skills." She shot back.

"Always the clever girl." Kakashi gave her a smile.

"I don't need to do it. It's one of the first things Tsunade made me do."

Kakashi squatted down to her eye level, "I'm never going to get forgiveness for that am I?"

Sakura sat up stuck her hand in his hair and ruffled it really hard all while giggling, "Sorry, it might be the last time I tease you about it." A small chuckle escaped his lips, always a sucker for a smiling woman.

"Just humor an old man and mold your chakra already." Sakura immediately complied. The paper split in half and then became damp. Kakashi's eyes widened a bit, not many people have more than one elemental affinity.

"Before you get all excited. Originally I only had a water affinity. I worked really hard to gain the wind affinity. And honestly I didn't know until now if I had achieved it."

"What jutsu's do you know?" An excited stare emanated from one lone charcoal eye.

"A few small water based ones. I am trying to figure out a technique that cools the water to an ice form. That's why I needed to learn how to control the wind affiliation. So far the results have been soggy."

"What are you trying to do? Maybe I can help."

After a small scoff in his direction Sakura stood a few feet from him. "It's better if I demonstrate. Throw a kunai at me. And at a spot that I can heal easily. Like I said it's not done yet." Kakashi stood a bit further from her. With his left hand he lifted his hitai-ate to expose the sharingan, while with his right he pulled out the leaf-shaped blade.

"Ready?"

"Just throw it." Sakura stomped impatiently. In an instant the blade was in the air and her fingers were dancing out countless signs. A wall of water formed about as big as her slim form. Kakashi could see with the sharingan the tendrils of wind chakra forming around the wall of water. The water itself was quickly crystallizing. But it was still not fast enough. The kunai passed easily through her barrier and landed in the ground between her feet. She flashed him a thankful grin for his aim. "You see it's not solidifying fast enough. If I stand here and concentrate for a minute it'll get solid all the way through."

"Show me."

"Ok." Sakura readied her stance again and performed her jutsu. After a minute a solid ice wall formed that was about 2 inches thick.

"You know what you are trying to do is something that has only been done with a kekkei genkai."

"I don't need a kekkei genkai to make ice. All I need is a freezer, or cold enough air to freeze the water. The kekkei genkai that Haku used was ice to begin with. Here I have water that needs to freeze enough to be ice."

"Have you tried to make the water wall slimmer?" At his question he received an affirmative, but also a statement that the water jutsu was once a water dragon jutsu. "Well merely modify it some more. The thinner you get the water the faster it can freeze. First start by making that thinner, then work on your wind chakra control. It's still a bit shaky." Kakashi picked up a leaf, demonstrated the leaf cutting exercise. Sakura shook her head in understanding. "Is there anything else new that you should show me?"

She gave him a smile, "I do have another modification to the ice wall. The mud wall. The best part about it is that I can kick up the dirt with my strength and make it soggy real easy. Also if someone throws some fire on the wall, it bakes up like stone." Sakura then proceeded to kick up her mud wall and asked Kakashi to shoot a katon at it. "You see it becomes pretty hard. I had originally wanted to create a barrier for when I healed people. Kind of like a turtle shell of protection. But, now that I want to become less of a defensive shinobi and more offensive in nature, I've tried to merge it in with my taijutsu. But as you can see it's still a work in progress."

"Definitely to slow." He was proud of her. Here she was creating a jutsu that he had never seen before. This confirmed that he had made the right choice in how he was going to train her. He pulled out a few scrolls from his pack and handed them to her. "Read these over tonight."

"Theories on fuinjutsu." She mumbled to herself.

"Start with learning the basics. Like how to make the seal for an exploding tag. Once you've learned the basic rules of fuinjutsu you can learn to seal or unseal anything. You posses the intelligence for it." The look on her face told Kakashi that she understood that she could use this for theory crafting. He knew he merely needed to give her the tools and she would be able to figure her jutsu out on her own. He would be there to help her test them and to give an honest critique. "My plan for your training will be intensive." This got her attention back on him. "First off we need to increase your stamina. You have a lot of chakra but no where near as much as even me. Then we are going to work on your stealth. Even though you want to be an offensive fighter, I still think that you will need the element of surprise on your side." Kakashi stopped her comment with a raised hand. "The list is long. We don't have much time to accomplish it all. Naruto learns fast but your smarter so you should learn what I mean to teach you much faster."

"Naruto has hundreds of shadow clones!"

"No excuses. We start bright and early tomorrow." With that Kakashi puffed away.

Sakura kicked her mud wall. He's going to be a one red eye demon with her training. She pulled out the scrolls on fuinjutsu and thought, 'Well at least this time he might actually teach me something.' While reading the scrolls Sakura headed off to the hokage tent.

...

His eyes felt wonderful. But, no matter how hard he tried his body could not keep up with them. He had to train more. Make his body respond the way that he wanted it to. He needed to master his new sharingan. Fed up with his lack of progress Sasuke made his way out of the training cave Madara had set up for him. Feeling aimless and frustrated he ambled around the compound.

He was alone here today. Suigetsu and Jugo were out on some meaningless errand Sasuke sent them on. He didn't care where Madara was. Sasuke made his way deep into the akatsuki structure. He found himself at the room that lately had been drawing his attention. He didn't quite know why he would always come to stand here. There was no point to it. But here he was standing before the demonic statue of the ten-tails, just like he had the day before. Every time that he stood here he could not help himself but to think of Naruto. The blonde idiot was going to die here, lying helpless as the nine-tails was sucked slowly out of him. It was going to take days to do it.

It made him uneasy. Not that he cared for Naruto's life, but Sasuke always felt that it wasn't the way the blonde should die. He felt that his own hands should make the light dim from those blue eyes. Naruto represented everything that he hated about Konoha. The hope, the peace and the happiness that all Konoha's citizens took for granted. He wanted to watch all of it drain from Naruto's face up close. Then he would proceed with the rest of them. But if he did that then Madara's moon's eye plan would go unfinished. Did he really care about that? No, he didn't. At this thought Sasuke left the room. New plans forming in his head.


End file.
